Katie Beddingfield recently popped back home to Washington, DC, for a quick break in her month-long All-You-Can-Jet (AYCJ) adventure on JetBlue. The half-time score:
Number of flights: 9
Cities visited: 5
Window seats scored (with empty middle seat, no less): 7
Airport floors slept on: 1 (JFK. Not as bad as you think)
Items lost: 1 (driver's license--returned 24 hours later. Crisis averted)
Desired flights sold out: 0
Yep. Priceless. I've been having such a blast since I set off September 8, for Oakland, that I actually haven't made much time to jot extensive musings. Suffice it to say, the AYCJ pass has not yet let me down. All of my JetBlue flights have been perfectly uneventful, on-time--and most importantly, bookable. My fear with such a bold offer was that the airline would collect its $599 from eager passengers and then make the pass all but impossible to fully use. Not so for me. I booked my recent western swing several days before departure (the pass requires 3-day advance booking), but then pushed to the limit booking my upcoming southern swing to Bogota, Colombia and Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. With those legs pretty full, the JetBlue reservation agent apologized for being unable to assign a seat in advance, but assured me that I would indeed have a seat. "JetBlue does not oversell its flights," Rose said, "You'll be fine." (I can only hope we see another AYCJ pass offer once JetBlue's recently approved codeshare agreement with Lufthansa is cemented.)
Number of flights: 9Cities visited: 5
Window seats scored (with empty middle seat, no less): 7
Airport floors slept on: 1 (JFK. Not as bad as you think)
Items lost: 1 (driver's license--returned 24 hours later. Crisis averted)
Desired flights sold out: 0
Yep. Priceless. I've been having such a blast since I set off September 8, for Oakland, that I actually haven't made much time to jot extensive musings. Suffice it to say, the AYCJ pass has not yet let me down. All of my JetBlue flights have been perfectly uneventful, on-time--and most importantly, bookable. My fear with such a bold offer was that the airline would collect its $599 from eager passengers and then make the pass all but impossible to fully use. Not so for me. I booked my recent western swing several days before departure (the pass requires 3-day advance booking), but then pushed to the limit booking my upcoming southern swing to Bogota, Colombia and Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. With those legs pretty full, the JetBlue reservation agent apologized for being unable to assign a seat in advance, but assured me that I would indeed have a seat. "JetBlue does not oversell its flights," Rose said, "You'll be fine." (I can only hope we see another AYCJ pass offer once JetBlue's recently approved codeshare agreement with Lufthansa is cemented.)
Some small frustrations with the pass: My itineraries have not been
simple roundtrips, and as such, I am unable to check in online or at
the kiosk for more than one flight at a time, even if it is merely a
connection. You also cannot modify seats online for itineraries with
more than two markets. On the upside, the gate agent in Denver invited
AYCJers to pre-board, along with families with small children and those
seated in the exit rows.All in all, these niggles amount to a whole lot of nothing. Especially given the fabulous fun time I've been having. I stomped grapes at Grgich Hills Estate winery (after meeting the charming founder Mike Grgich) in Napa, sampled sublime mussels and frites at The Fig Café in Glen Ellen, CA, listened to a trio of female bluegrass pickers at the famed L.A. Farmers Market, and dined at Le Pigeon in Portland, Oregon, where innovative chef Gabriel Rucker served a sweet-and-savory dessert sensation unlike anything I have tasted before: foie gras profiteroles. I met my husband in Paris (Paris, Las Vegas, that is) for our anniversary dinner perched high in the Eiffel Tower, from which we had a spectacular view of Italy (the fountains at the Bellagio) and the rest of the Strip in all its weirdness. Never mind the long-distance haul from Vegas to Denver--via JFK and the thinly carpeted floor of Terminal 5. Along with spending some much-needed family time in Denver, I drove high into the Rocky Mountains from Denver just in time to feel the first wet flakes of the season.
Can it get any better? Stay tuned. I'm re-charged, re-packed and ready for the second half.
Photo: Katie Beddingfield
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Sounds like you've really used the pass to its full extent. It sounds like it has a lot of potential ... hopefully Jet Blue will continue these offers into the future now that a few of you have tested the waters for all of us!